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Friday, 18 May 2012

Tit Bits III: The Blessed Virgin Mary's Message For Our Time

The Church approved Marian apparition of Lourdes, France.
Our Lady of Lourdes appeared to St Bernadette Soubirous on February 11, 1858.

Joe writes:

Question:Why should I bother with apparitions and
Mary's messages when I have the Bible?

Argument:

The Virgin Mary was a very devout woman, who
bore the Son of the Most High but nonetheless she remains a creature and
Catholics have turned her into a goddess. This takes away people's focus from
Jesus Christ who is the sole mediator between Almighty God and humanity.

The dead know nothing (Eccl. 9:5) and by
invoking them, we anger God, why should we listen to the spirit that comes as
the Virgin Mary?

Catholic
Teaching (CCC #67):

Throughout the ages, there have been so-called "private"
revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church.
They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to
improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully
by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church,
the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations
whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church.

Christian faith cannot accept "revelations" that claim to
surpass or correct the Revelation of which Christ is the fulfilment, as is the
case in certain non-Christian religions and also in certain recent sects which
base themselves on such "revelations."

Answer:

It is wise for the faithful to worry about
Marian apparitions in this age of deception where the true doctrine is being
suppressed. A number of apparitions have caused discord in the Body of Christ
with a view to confuse the messages of Fatima. Marian apparitions are judged by
the Church in accordance with Sacred Tradition, Magisterial teaching and
adherence to decreed doctrine of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Church uses Our
Lord's admonition "to test the spirits" and "that a tree is
known by its fruit" to decide in the final analysis what to make of a
given apparition given that public revelation ended with the death of the last
Apostle and will come again on the second coming.

Apparitions to be judged as Constat de
supernaturalitate (formerly called worthy of belief) should manifest signs or
evidence of being an authentic or truly miraculous intervention from heaven.
This judgment is possible when there is evidence of supernatural phenomena,
sound doctrine, moral probity, mental health and sound piety of the seer(s) and
enduring good fruits among the faithful. [1]

Having said that, there are about 39 [2]
private revelations that have been approved by the Church as "worthy of
belief" and chief among these for our time is Our Lady of Fatima and Our
Lady of La Salette. These apparitions call us back to true faith guided by the
doctrine of the Church that has been inspired and preserved by the Holy Spirit.
This is in line with the teaching of Almighty God in Jeremiah 6:16 “Thus says the Lord: Stand on the ways, and
see, and ask for the old paths, which is the good way, and walk in it: and you
shall find refreshment for your souls. And they said: We will not walk.” In
these apparitions, the Blessed Virgin Mary who is our mother and the woman of
Revelation calls her children to true faith and to watch that we may not be
deceived by the smoke of Satan and the errors of Modernism. Here we are
reminded that 'that which was a sin is always a sin'.

Conclusion:

Our Lady of Fatima spoke about the errors of
fashion and that people should always adorn themselves in modest attire. She
spoke of sins of the flesh and showed the three seers a vision of hell to warn
us of what awaits those who do not heed the Gospels and the authentic teachings
and the commandments of God. With the Blessed Virgin Mary, we adore God as we
should, we are encouraged to walk in the path that leads to Him and we are
given the grace of 'the fear of the Lord' which is said to be the beginning of
all wisdom (Proverbs 8:13 and 9:10; Psalm 111:10; Isaiah 11:3). In the approved
apparitions of our mother, we are taught to pray and to live the message of the
Gospel in humility and obedience to the Will of God.

A lot of modern day apparitions are indeed
not to be mistakenly attributed to the Blessed Virgin because they promote
disobedience to the Church and teach error, and the faithful are warned by the
Magisterium of the Church to listen to the teachings of the local Bishop
wherever a particular apparition occurs. It is the duty of the local Bishop as
shepherd of the flock to warn against false apparitions and in other cases,
such as Medjugorje, the faithful have refused to listen.

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I am a South African Catholic who was disabled by a rare lung disease at age 42. Need bilateral sequential lung transplant. Took up blogging to keep busy because I am tethered to an oxygen machine 24/7 and restricted in my activity.

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